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Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored for 13 years, says he's finished with reform. It's impossible, he said in a recent interview, to try to get major news media outlets to deliver relevant news stories that serve to strengthen democracy.
"I really think we're beyond reforming corporate media," said Phillips, a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University and director of Project Censored. "We're not going to break up these huge conglomerates. We're just going to make them irrelevant."
Every year since 1976, Project Censored has spotlighted the 25 most significant news stories that were largely ignored or misrepresented by the mainstream press. Now the group is expanding its mission — to promote alternative news sources. But it continues to report the biggest national and international stories that the major media ignored.
The term "censored" doesn't mean some government agent stood over newsrooms with a rubber stamp and forbade the publication of the news, or even that the information was completely out of the public eye. The stories Project Censored highlights may have run in a small number of news outlets, but didn't get the type of attention they deserved.
The project staff begins by sifting through hundreds of stories nominated by individuals at Sonoma State, where the project is based, as well as 30 affiliated universities all over the country.
Articles are verified, fact-checked and selected by a team of students, faculty and evaluators from the wider community, then sent to a panel of national judges to be ranked. The end product is a book, co-edited this year by Phillips and associate director Mickey Huff, that summarizes the top stories, provides in-depth media analysis, and includes resources for readers who are hungry for more substantive reporting.
Project Censored doesn't just expose gaping holes in the news brought to you by the likes of Fox, CNN or USA Today — it also shines a light on less prominent but more incisive alternative-media sources serving up in-depth investigations and watchdog reports.
Phillips is stepping down this year as director of Project Censored and turning his attention to a new endeavor called Media Freedom International. The organization will tap academic affiliates from around the world to verify the content put out by independent news outlets as a way to facilitate trust in these lesser-known sources. "The biggest question I got asked for 13 years was, 'Who do you trust?'" he explained. "So we've really made an effort in the last three years to try to address that question, in a very open way, in a very honest way, and say, these are [the sources] who we can trust."
Benjamin Frymer, a sociology professor at Sonoma State who is stepping into the role of Project Censored director, says he believes the time is ripe for this kind of push. "The actual amount of time people spend reading online is increasing," Frymer pointed out. "It's not as if people are just cynically rejecting media — they're reaching out for alternative sources. Project Censored wants to get involved in making those sources visible."
The Project Censored book this year uses the term "truth emergency."
"We call it an emergency because it's a democratic emergency," Huff asserted. In this media climate, "we're awash in a sea of information," he said. "But we have a paucity of understanding about what the truth is."
The top 25 Project Censored stories of 2008-09 highlight the same theme that Phillips and Huff say has triggered the downslide of mainstream media: the overwhelming influence of powerful, profit-driven interests. The No. 1 story details the financial sector's hefty campaign contributions to key members of Congress leading up to the financial crisis, which coincided with a weakening of federal banking regulations. Another story points out that in even in the financial tumult following the economic downturn, special interests spent more money on Washington lobbyists than ever before.
Here's this year's list.
The total tab for the Wall Street bailout, including money spent and promised by the U.S. government, works out to an estimated $42,000 for every man, woman and child in this county, according to American Casino, a documentary about subprime lending and the financial meltdown. The predatory lending free-for-all, the emergency pumping of taxpayer dollars to prop up megabanks, and the lavish bonuses handed out to Wall Street executives in the aftermath are all issues that have dominated news headlines.
But another twist in the story received scant attention from the mainstream news media: the unsettling combination of lax oversight from national politicians and their high-dollar campaign contributions from financial players.
"The worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d'état," Matt Taibbi wrote in "The Big Takeover," a March 2009 Rolling Stone article. "They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations."
In the 10-year period beginning in 1998, the financial sector spent $1.7 billion on federal campaign contributions, and another $3.4 billion on lobbyists. Since 2001, eight of the most troubled firms have donated $64.2 million to congressional candidates, presidential candidates, and the Republican and Democratic parties.
Wall Street's spending spree on political contributions coincided with a weakening of federal banking regulations, which in turn created a recipe for the astronomical financial disaster that sent the global economy reeling.
Sources: "Lax Oversight? Maybe $64 Million to DC Pols Explains It," Greg Gordon, Truthout.org and McClatchey Newspapers, October 2, 2008; "Congressmen Hear from TARP Recipients Who Funded Their Campaigns," Lindsay Renick Mayer, Capitol Eye, February 10, 2009; "The Big Takeover," Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, March 2009.
Latinos and African-Americans attend public schools that are more segregated than they have been in four decades, Professor Gary Orfield notes in "Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge," a study conducted by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. Orfield's report used federal data to highlight deepening segregation in public education by race and poverty.
About 44 percent of students in the nation's public school system are people of color, and this group will soon make up the majority of the population in the United States. Yet this racial diversity often isn't reflected from school to school. Instead, two out of every five African-American and Latino youths attend schools Orfield characterizes as "intensely segregated," composed of 90 percent to 100 percent people of color.
For Latinos, the trend reflects growing residential segregation. For African-Americans, the study attributes a significant part of the reversal to ending desegregation plans in public schools nationwide. Schools segregated by race and poverty tend to have much higher dropout rates, more teacher turnover, and greater exposure to crime and gangs, placing students at a major disadvantage in society. The most severe segregation is in Western states, including California.
Fifty-five years after the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, Orfield wrote, "Segregation is fast spreading into large sectors of suburbia, and there is little or no assistance for communities wishing to resist the pressures of resegregation and ghetto creation in order to build successfully integrated schools and neighborhoods."
Source: "Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge," Gary Orfield, The Civil Rights Project, UCLA, January 2009
Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa were like gold for mainstream news outlets this past year. Stories describing surprise attacks on shipping vessels, daring rescues and cadres of ragtag bandits extracting multimillion-dollar ransoms were all over the airwaves and front pages.
But even as the pirates' exploits around the Gulf of Aden captured the world's attention, little ink was devoted to factors that made the Somalis desperate enough to resort to piracy in the first place: the dumping of nuclear waste and the rampant overfishing of their coastal waters.
In the early 1990s, when Somalia's government collapsed, foreign interests began swooping into unguarded coastal waters to trawl for food — and venturing into unprotected Somali territories to cheaply dispose of nuclear waste. Those activities continued with impunity for years. The ramifications of toxic dumping hit full force with the 2005 tsunami, when leaking barrels were washed ashore, sickening hundreds and causing birth defects in newborn infants. Meanwhile, the uncontrolled fishing harvests damaged the economic livelihoods of Somali fishermen and eroded the country's supply of a primary food source. That's when the piracy began.
"Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome?" asked journalist Johann Hari in a Huffington Post article. "We didn't act on those crimes — but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about 'evil.'"
Sources: "Toxic waste behind Somali piracy," Najad Abdullahi, Al Jazeera English, Oct. 11, 2008; "You are being lied to about pirates," Johann Hari, The Huffington Post, Jan. 4, 2009; "The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other," Mohamed Abshir Waldo, WardheerNews, Jan. 8, 2009
The Shearon Harris nuclear plant in North Carolina's Wake County isn't just a power-generating station. The Progress Energy plant, located in a backwoods area, bears the distinction of housing the largest radioactive-waste storage pools in the country. Spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants are transported there by rail, then stored beneath circulating cold water to prevent the radioactive waste from heating.
The hidden danger, according to investigative reporter Jeffrey St. Clair, is the looming threat of a pool fire. Citing a study by Brookhaven National Laboratory, St. Clair highlighted in CounterPunch the catastrophe that could ensue if a pool were to ignite. A possible 140,000 people could wind up with cancer. Contamination could stretch for thousands of square miles. And damages could reach an estimated $500 billion.
"Spent fuel recently discharged from a reactor could heat up relatively rapidly and catch fire," Robert Alvarez, a former Department of Energy adviser and senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies noted in a study about safety issues surrounding nuclear waste pools. "The fire could well spread to older fuel. The long-term contamination consequences of such an event could be significantly worse than Chernobyl."
Shearon Harris' track record is pocked with problems requiring temporary shutdowns of the plant and including malfunctions of the facility's emergency-warning system.
When a study was sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission highlighting the safety risks and recommending technological fixes to address the problem, St. Clair noted, a pro-nuclear commissioner successfully persuaded the agency to dismiss the concerns.
Source: "Pools of Fire," Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch, Aug. 9, 2008
Two years ago, the European Union enacted a bold new environmental policy requiring close scrutiny and restriction of toxic chemicals used in everyday products. Invisible perils such as lead in lipstick, endocrine disruptors in baby toys, and mercury in electronics can threaten human health. The European legislation aimed to gradually phase out these toxic materials and replace them with safer alternatives.
The story that has gone unreported by mainstream American news media is how this game-changing legislation might affect the United States, where chemical corporations use lobbying muscle to ensure comparatively lax oversight of toxic substances. As global markets shift to favor safer consumer products, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is lagging in its own scrutiny of insidious chemicals.
As investigative journalist Mark Schapiro pointed out in Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power, the EPA's tendency to behave as if it were beholden to big business could backfire in this case, placing U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage because products manufactured here will be regarded with increasing distrust.
Economics aside, the implications of loose restrictions on toxic products are chilling: just one-third of the 267 chemicals on the EU's watch list have ever been tested by the EPA, and only two are regulated under federal law. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, estimate that 42 billion pounds of chemicals enter American commerce daily, and only a fraction have undergone risk assessments. When it comes to meeting the safer, more stringent EU standard, the stakes are high — with consequences including economic impacts as well as public health.
Sources: "European Chemical Clampdown Reaches Across Atlantic," David Biello, Scientific American, Sept. 30, 2008; "How Europe's New Chemical Rules Affect U.S.," Environmental Defense Fund, Sept. 30, 2008; "U.S. Lags Behind Europe in Regulating Toxicity of Everyday Products," Mark Schapiro, Democracy Now! Feb. 24, 2009
In 2008, as the economy tumbled and unemployment soared, Washington lobbyists working for special interests were paid $3.2 billion — more than any other year on record. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, special interests spent a collective $32,523 per legislator, per day, for every day Congress was in session.
One event that triggered the lobbying boom, according to CRP director Sheila Krumholz, was the federal bailout — with the federal government ensuring that the lobbyists got a piece of the pie. Ironically, some of the first in line were the same players who helped precipitate the nation's sharp economic downturn by engaging in high-risk, speculative lending practices.
"Even though some financial, insurance and real estate interests pulled back last year, they still managed to spend more than $450 million as a sector to lobby policymakers," Krumholz noted. "That can buy a lot of influence, and it's a fraction of what the financial sector is reaping in return through the government's bailout program."
The list of highest-ranking spenders on Washington lobbying reads like a roster of some of the most powerful interests nationwide. Topping the list was the health sector, which spent $478.5 million lobbying Congress last year. A close runner-up was the finance, insurance, and real estate sector, spending $453.5 million. Pharmaceutical companies plunked down $230 million; electric utilities spent $156.7 million; and oil and gas companies paid lobbyists $133.2 million.
Source: "Washington Lobbying Grew to $3.2 Billion Last Year, Despite Economy," Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org
President Barack Obama's appointments to the Department of Defense have raised serious questions among critics who've studied their track records. Although the news media haven't paid much attention, the Defense appointees bring to the administration controversial histories and conflicts of interest due to close ties to Defense contractors.
Obama's decision to retain Robert Gates, secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, marks the first time in history that a president has opted to keep a defense secretary of an outgoing opposing party in power.
Gates, a former CIA director, has faced criticism for allegedly spinning intelligence reports for political means. In Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA, author and former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman described him as "the chief action officer for the Reagan administration's drive to tailor intelligence reporting to White House political desires." Gates also came under scrutiny for questions surrounding whether he misled Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal in the mid-1980s, and was accused of withholding information from intelligence committees when the United States provided military aid to Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.
Critics are also uneasy about the appointment of Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who formerly served as a senior vice president at defense giant Raytheon Company and was a registered lobbyist for Raytheon until July 2008. Lynn, who previously served as Pentagon comptroller during the Clinton administration, came under fire in his confirmation hearing for "questionable accounting practices." The Defense Department failed multiple audits under Lynn's leadership because it was unable to properly account for $3.4 trillion in financial transactions made over the course of several years.
Sources: "The Danger of Keeping Robert Gates," Robert Parry, ConsortiumNews.com, Nov. 13, 2008; "Obama's Defense Department Appointees— The $3.4 Trillion Question," Andrew Hughes, Global Research, Feb. 13, 2009; "Obama Nominee Admiral Dennis Blair aided perpetrators of 1999 church killings in East Timor," Allan Nairn, Democracy Now! Jan. 7, 2009; "Ties to Chevron, Boeing Raise Concern on Possible NSA Pick," Roxana Tiron, The Hill, Nov. 24, 2008
The Cayman Islands and Bermuda are magnets for Bank of America, Citigroup, American International Group, and 11 other financial giants that were the beneficiaries of the federal government's 2008 Wall Street bailout. It's not the balmy weather that inspires some of America's wealthiest companies to open operations in the Caribbean archipelago: The offshore oases provide safe harbors to stash cash out of the reach of Uncle Sam.
According to a 2008 Government Accountability Office report that was largely ignored by the news media, 83 of the top publicly held U.S. companies, including some receiving substantial portions of federal bailout dollars, have operations in tax havens that allow them to avoid paying their fair share to the Internal Revenue Service. The report also spotlighted the activities of Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), which has helped wealthy Americans to use tax schemes to cheat the IRS out of billions.
In December 2008, banking giant Goldman Sachs reported its first quarterly loss, and promptly followed up with a statement that its tax rate would drop from 34.1 percent to 1 percent, citing "changes in geographic earnings mix" as the reason. The difference: instead of paying $6 billion in total worldwide taxes as it did in 2007, Goldman Sachs would pay a total of $14 million in 2008. In the same year, it received $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government.
"The problem is larger than Goldman Sachs," U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who serves on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, told Bloomberg News. "With the right hand out begging for bailout money, the left is hiding it offshore."
Sources: "Goldman Sachs's Tax Rate Drops to 1 percent or $14 Million," Christine Harper, Bloomberg News, Dec. 16, 2008; "Gimme Shelter: Tax Evasion and the Obama Administration," Thomas B. Edsall, The Huffington Post, Feb. 23, 2009
In mid-January, as part of a military campaign, the Israeli Defense Forces fired several shells that hit the headquarters of a United Nations relief agency in Gaza City, destroying provisions for basic aid like food and medicine.
The shells contained white phosphorous (referred to as "Willy Pete" in military slang), a smoke-producing, spontaneously flammable agent. Designed to obscure battle territory, it can also ignite buildings or cause grotesque burns if it touches the skin.
The attack on the relief-agency headquarters is just one example of a civilian structure that researchers discovered had been hit during the January air strikes. In the aftermath of the attacks, Human Rights Watch volunteers found spent white phosphorous shells on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards and at a U.N. school in Gaza.
Human Rights Watch says the IDF's use of white phosphorous violated international law, which prohibits deliberate, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks that result in civilian casualties. After gathering evidence, including spent shells, the organization issued a report condemning the repeated firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza as a war crime. Amnesty International, another human rights organization, followed suit by calling upon the United States to suspend military aid to Israel — but to no avail.
The United States was a primary source of funding and weaponry for Israel's military campaign. Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus.
Sources: "White Phosphorus Use Evidence of War Crimes Report: Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," Fred Abrahams, Human Rights Watch, March 25, 2009; "Suspend Military Aid to Israel, Amnesty Urges Obama after Detailing U.S. Weapons Used in Gaza," Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, Feb. 23, 2009; "U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Killings in Gaza," Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, Jan. 8, 2009; "U.S. military resupplying Israel with ammunition through Greece," Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News, Jan. 8, 2009.
When President Rafael Correa announced that Ecuador would default on its foreign debt last December, he didn't say it was because the Latin American country was unable to pay. Rather, he framed it as a moral stand: "As president, I couldn't allow us to keep paying a debt that was obviously immoral and illegitimate," Correa told an international news agency. The news was mainly reported in financial publications, and the stories tended to quote harsh critics who characterized Correa as an extreme leftist with ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
But there's much more to the story. The announcement came in the wake of an exhaustive audit of Ecuador's debt, conducted under Correa's direction by a newly created debt audit commission. The unprecedented audit documented hundreds of allegations of irregularity and illegality in the decades of debt collection from international lenders. Although Ecuador had made payments exceeding the value of the principal since the time it initially took out loans in the 1970s, its foreign debt had nonetheless swelled to levels three times as high due to extraordinarily high interest rates. With a huge percentage of the country's financial resources devoted to paying the debt, little was left over to combat poverty in Ecuador.
Correa's move to stand up against foreign lenders did not go unnoticed by other impoverished, debt-ridden nations, and the decision could set a precedent for developing countries struggling to get out from under massive debt obligation to First World lenders.
Ecuador eventually agreed to a restructuring of its debt at about 35 cents on the dollar. Nonetheless, the move served to expose deficiencies in the World Bank system, which provides little recourse for countries to resolve disputes over potentially illegitimate debt.
Sources: "As Crisis Mounts, Ecuador Declares Foreign Debt Illegitimate and Illegal," Daniel Denvir, Alternet, November 26, 2008; "Invalid Loans to Ecuador: Who Owes Who," Committee for the Integral Audit of Public Credit, Utube, Fall 2008; "Ecuador's Debt Default," Neil Watkins and Sarah Anders, Foreign Policy in Focus, Dec. 15, 2008
11) Private corporations profit from the occupation of Palestine
12) Mysterious death of Mike Connell — Karl Rove's election thief
13) Hurricane Katrina's hidden race war
14) Congress invested in defense contracts
15) World Bank's carbon trade fiasco
16) U.S. repression of Haiti continues
17) The ICC facilitates U.S. covert war in Sudan
18) Ecuador's constitutional rights of nature
19) Bank bailout recipients spent to defeat labor
20) Secret control of the presidential debates
21) Recession causes states to cut welfare
22) Obama's Trilateral Commission team
23) Activists slam World Water Forum as a corporate-driven fraud
24) Dollar glut finances U.S. military expansion
25) Fast track oil exploitation in western Amazon
Read them all at projectcensored.org.
Rebecca Bowe is a reporter for the San Francisco Bay Guardian where this article first appeared. Write to [email protected]


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Now that I'm looking into home automation, I'm thinking about automatically cutting off the fridge power from 3am ~ 5am. Given that modern refrigerators are well insulated, it should be able to withstand 2 hours of non powered cooling.
If I proceed with this project, will I see a big reduction in my monthly electrical bill?

subset: commoncrawl


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New! Some of this is now published here (open access, free for all!):
Dingemanse, Mark. 2020. Between Sound and Speech: Liminal Signs in Interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 53(1), 188–196. doi:10.1080/08351813.2020.1712967 (PDF)
TL;DR — Non-lexical is a term people use for things that seem borderline linguistic, like sniffs, coughs, and grunts. However, it's rarely a great idea to define things in terms of what they are not. In fact we can think of many of these things as liminal signs: signs that can but need not be used communicatively because they occupy the borderland between sound and speech.
This is part II of my notes on the "Ideophones and non-lexical vocalisations" workshop. Part I is here.
Order at all points
One of the nice features of the workshop was the "rapid data session" format, which enabled analysts to make available one or two data extracts (often with audio, video and transcripts) for repeated inspection, allowing everyone in the audience to study them and make observations or ask questions. In this way we discussed data featuring vocalisations including ermmmnrrrnuh::, ʔouiʔ, ha:i: (sighed), du du ka du du du ka, k'hohhh, zuppum, hop-paa, and many more.
But there is method to the madness. For instance, talking on the topic of "How to audibly not say something with clicks", Richard Ogden (York) showed how English speakers use various click sounds for double entendres, collusions and in general things that are treated as best left off the record. He also made a convincing case for a systematic, conventionalised contrast between lateral and central click sounds, which maps onto a contrast in social actions. Despite English not being generally known as a click language, English speakers have no trouble mastering this contrast and use it in everday interaction (some details are in Richard's 2013 paper on clicks).
When speech sounds are distinctive in this way, linguists often use that as evidence to argue for phonemic status: the contrastive sounds earn their place in the phonology of the language. These conversational clicks form an interesting test case. Is a single systematic contrast, or even a small number of similarly contrasting items, sufficient for admission to the phoneme inventory, or is there some kind of threshold we use to determine this?
I think it is fair to point out that the majority of English words don't feature contrastive click phonemes, and so this could be a reason to say they are not part of English phonology. But such frequency-based arguments can be slippery. Given that phonemes show a Zipfian distribution, we expect there to be relatively rare phonemes. Are clicks simply one extreme of this continuum? I can't bring myself to agree with this either, if only because their distribution (in terms of places where they occur) seems quite different.
Most importantly, in English, these click sounds don't seem to be contrastive within words the way p/t or k/g are, but instead are contrastive as stand alone items. So on a generous reading of 'word', these items are words, or at least lexical items, or at least conventionalised linguistic items. Which brings me to the key question I was left with after the workshop.
What, if anything, is "non-lexical"?
Throughout the workshop we faced the challenge of how exactly to refer to the various things we studied. One term used widely, mostly for want of a better one, was non-lexical vocalisations. While it may be the best we have currently, there are several issues with it.
First, it's never great to define by negation. Is not being lexical the key feature setting apart these vocalisations as a phenomenon? What would lexical vocalisations be, anyway? We have the term 'word', so using an alternative like 'vocalisation' already implies some relevant difference between the items in focus and run-of-the-mill words like 'cat' or 'mat'. And as we saw above for the clicks, a case could be made that even these phonologically outlandish items have some recognised (or at least recognisable) status as conventionalised items in a larger system of practices, i.e., a lexicon.
Second, calling them "non-lexical" implies that the lexicality of these items is somehow lacking or in doubt. True, these items are unlikely to be found in traditional lexicons; but the arbitrary constraints of printed dictionaries will never be a reliable guide for linguistic questions. Anyway this doesn't help if we want to argue (as several of us did during the workshop) that the shape of these items can to an important degree be conventionalised, or that they may draw on partly conventionalised inventories of depictive practices, or that they are used in systematic ways, or that they form paradigmatic relations within larger systems of practices. All of these point to a conventionalised, and therefore possibly lexicalised, status of these things.
Depictions and displays
Before we worry about lexicality, it's worth asking whether there is a unified phenomenon here in need of a single label like "non-lexical vocalisations", or whether there are multiple distinct phenomena. I think there may be at least two clear groups of phenomena worth distinguishing:
1. Vocal depictions (≈ Clark's 'demonstrations', Güldemann's 'mimesis')
These are vocalisations typically presented as depictions of sensory scenes that enable others to perceive for themselves the scene depicted. Examples include ideophones, creative vocal imitations of sounds, movements and other sensory scenes. In Peircean terms, their mode of signification is primarily iconic. For example, a vocalisation like wop pa da PUM can iconically depict aspects of the temporal and kinetic dynamics of a sequence of dance moves (Keevallik 2010). Like all signs, vocal depictions may also have symbolic and indexical properties.
While most English speakers won't feel that wop or pa da PUM are words, one could make a case for a degree of conventionalisation in particular communities of practice. For instance, dancers or musicians who work closely together likely converge on a small set of vocalisations they use in this way (Sundberg's 1994 syllabling). From here it's not far at all to the larger inventories of conventionalised vocal depictions we call ideophones. Indeed one place where we find ideophones is precisely in situations where there is a premium on sharing and calibrating sensory perceptions and achieving bodily coordination, as Elena Mihas (2013) has shown for ideophones in Ashenika Perene. (Some of these uses of ideophones are reviewed in a forthcoming article for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics; preprint here.) So I see vocal depictions as an overarching category that includes creative vocalisations as well as conventionalised ideophones, and everything in between.
2. Vocal displays (≈ Goffman's 'response cries', Kockelman's 'interjections' — I'm not sure whether 'display' is the best term here)
These are vocalisations typically produced as indexical signs of emotion, effort, evaluation. They are presented not so much depictions of events as responses to events. Examples include strain grunts, pain cries, yawns, interjections of disgust, vocal signs of cognitive effort, etc. For Goffman these would present themselves more as "giving off" than "giving" information, though of course precisely this opens up the possibility for people to produce or treat them as doing other things ostensibly off record. In Peircean terms, their mode of signification is primarily indexical. For instance, the phonetic form of a strain grunt does not itself present a resemblance to its ascribed meaning of 'effort' — it can be seen to indexically show that effort. Like all signs, vocal displays may also have symbolic and iconic properties.
I'm trying to be careful here in saying that vocal displays are "typically produced as indexical signs". An inbreath or a click sound can be 'merely' an index of the physical process of preparing to speak, involuntarily produced; but that it regularly occurs in this indexical relationship means that we can also use it in a more controlled way to display imminent speakership, and therefore do interactional work. Likewise, something like um can be 'merely' an index of the cognitive process of starting to formulate a turn but not being ready to speak yet; but that it regularly occurs in this function makes it possible for us to do interactional work with it, for instance, buy ourselves time at interactionally fraught moments (Clark & Fox Tree 2003).
(Non)lexicality is an orthogonal issue
The two groups, vocal depictions and vocal displays, are united at least in being commonly treated as marginalia in the subjective sense (Dingemanse 2017). Further, vocal depictions and vocal displays are both more 'showing' than 'telling', though for different reasons: depictions because they iconically create a likeness (Donald 1998), displays because they indexically provide evidence of some inner feeling or state (Wharton 2003). Both groups also appear to allow a degree of gradience that seems to be less typical for more descriptive vocabulary: depictions because modifications in form analogically correspond to modifications in meaning, and displays because they are productively combined with a wide range of prosodic resources in the service of showing stance and streamlining interaction. All of these things may justify grouping them together as "vocalisations". But I wouldn't want to call them "non-lexical" across the board.
The reason is that lexicality is an orthogonal matter. Lexicality is a graded property (something can be more or less lexical) and it runs through both groups: in both, we have fully conventionalised lexical items like ideophones or the word "um" ; and items that are less clearly conventionalised and linguistically integrated, like the vocal depiction "pa da PUM" or a vocal display like an inbreath. And there are going to be lots of intermediate forms as well.
There are yet other things that have been called "nonlexical" or variations thereof, that may or may not be groupable with either of these two broad categories. For instance, Nigel Ward has an interesting line of work on continuers, backchannels and the like, which he calls "nonlexical conversational sounds" (Ward 2006). Despite an interesting degree of formal gradience, I think the claim of nonlexicality here is premature, and may be too strong. Likewise, Schegloff has described the interjection Huh?, used to initiate repair, as a "virtually pre-lexical grunt" (Schegloff 1997). Comparative interactional linguistic research has since shown that many languages have an interjection of this kind, and while it may not be the most prototypical lexical item, it certainly is a word rather than a grunt: it is integrated in terms of phonology and interrogative prosody, and its cross-linguistic commonalities notwithstanding, the actual realisations show enough language-specificity that they have to be learned.
Some of these items may be close to the vocal displays above, a link that is alluring because they don't sound like many other words. But I would hesitate to identify them with response cries, exclamations or grunts; as I have argued elsewhere, perhaps their peculiar shapes are not so much because they originate as involuntary grunts, but because they are optimally adapted to the exigencies of conversation (as we have argued in detail for "Huh?"). That topic is at the core of my newest research project on Elementary particles of conversation. More about that on some other occassion.
- Akita, Kimi, and Mark Dingemanse. 2019. "Ideophones (Mimetics, Expressives)." In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Preprint: https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004347
- Clark, Herbert H., and Jean E. Fox Tree. 2002. "Using Uh and Um in Spontaneous Speaking." Cognition 84: 73–111.
- Dingemanse, Mark. 2014. "Making New Ideophones in Siwu: Creative Depiction in Conversation." Pragmatics and Society 5 (3): 384–405. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.5.3.04din.
- Dingemanse, Mark. 2017. "On the Margins of Language: Ideophones, Interjections and Dependencies in Linguistic Theory." In Dependencies in Language, edited by N. J. Enfield, 195–202. Berlin: Language Science Press. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.573781.
- Donald, Merlin. 1998. "Mimesis and the Executive Suite: Missing Links in Language Evolution." In Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, edited by James R. Hurford, Michael Studdert-Kennedy, and Chris Knight, 44–67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Goffman, Erving. 1978. "Response Cries." Language 54 (4): 787–815.
- Keevallik, Leelo. 2010. "Bodily Quoting in Dance Correction." Research on Language & Social Interaction 43 (4): 401–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2010.518065.
- Keevallik, Leelo. 2014. "Turn Organization and Bodily-Vocal Demonstrations." Journal of Pragmatics, A body of resources – CA studies of social conduct, 65 (May): 103–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.01.008.
- Kockelman, Paul. 2003. "The Meanings of Interjections in Q'eqchi' Maya: From Emotive Reaction to Social and Discursive Action." Current Anthropology 44 (4): 467–97.
- Mihas, Elena. 2013. "Composite Ideophone-Gesture Utterances in the Ashéninka Perené 'Community of Practice', an Amazonian Arawak Society from Central-Eastern Peru." Gesture 13 (1): 28–62. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.13.1.02mih.
- Ogden, Richard. 2013. "Clicks and Percussives in English Conversation." Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (3): 299–320. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100313000224.
- Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1997. "Practices and Actions: Boundary Cases of Other-Initiated Repair." Discourse Processes 23 (3): 499–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539709545001.
- Ward, Nigel. 2006. "Non-Lexical Conversational Sounds in American English." Pragmatics & Cognition 14: 129–82. https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.14.1.08war.
- Wharton, Tim. 2003. "Interjections, Language, and the `showing/Saying' Continuum." Pragmatics & Cognition 11: 39–91. https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.11.1.04wha.


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2011 Future Trucks & SUVs
The Future vehicle Files, Part 2: More of the Coolest, Most Interesting, and Most Significant New Trucks & SUVs Coming in the Near Future
The economy's still in the proverbial dumpster. The fate of two of the Detroit Three is hanging on by a lug nut that's almost off the thread. No one who builds cars has been unscathed by the carnage. As John Krafcik, U.S. CEO of Hyundai -- one of the few automakers who have managed to keep its head just above a sea of red ink -- remarked recently: "flat is the new up."
And as if there isn't already enough for board members and CEOs to fret over already, pressure continues to build to deliver ever greener, stratospherically high mileage machines with technologically advanced alternative powertrains, and oh yeah, do it like yesterday.
It's in this incredibly challenging and dynamically changing automotive landscape that the world's automakers, despite the myriad challenges confronting them, continue to forge ahead with plans for their next generation of four-wheeled offerings.
Despite it all, there's still a lot to look forward to in the near future. So we've went ahead assembled another list of more than two dozen vehicles that are on the way to showrooms within the next two years or so as a follow-up to our recent 2010 Future Cars roundup.
Here's hoping that once the economy finally climbs out of its doldrums that what remains of the automotive industry emerges stronger and better equipped to build cars like the ones you'll find on the following pages.
BMW X1 - All-new
Chevrolet Silverado HD - Redesign
Dodge Durango - Redesign
Ford Explorer - Redesign
Ford F-250/350 Super Duty - Redesign
Ford F-59 Super Duty Chassis - Redesign
Hyundai Santa Fe - Redesign
Hyundai Tucson - Redesign
Jeep Grand Cherokee - Redesign
Lincoln MKX - Refresh
Mini Crossman - All-new U.S. Production
Mercedes-Benz Gl - Refresh
Mitsubishi Outlander GT - New Variant
Nissan Murano Convertible - New Variant
Nissan NV200 - All-new
Nissan NV2500 - All-new
Volkswagen Touareg - Refresh
Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid - New Variant
The X1 is BMW's latest foray into the crossover market. Following the huge initial success of the X6, BMW has been working on a new crossover based on the 1 Series platform. The X1 is expected to share most of its technical features with the 1 Series, such as the 3.0L inline-six engine producing 230 hp and the twin turbodiesel I-4 making 204 hp, but it's not expected to get the top-level 300-hp twin-turbo inline-six. The X1 is expected to get BMW's X-Drive all-wheel-drive system, though. Transmission choices are expected to be either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic.
Via BMW: Description in Brief.
* World debut of a concept BMW X model in the premium compact segment.
* BMW, the founder of the Sports Activity Vehicle segment, is consistently expanding the range of BMW X models.
* Authentic transition of the features and design language typical of a BMW X model into a new class of vehicles. A concept study offering a clear expression of modern style, agility, versatility and premium quality through its design alone.
* As an innovative vehicle concept in the premium compact segment, the BMW Concept X1 sets the standard for cool elegance, modern style, and variable function.
* The BMW Concept X1 offers ample room for spontaneous mobility in many different ways, clearly reflecting the lifestyle of a modern and active target group. Numerous details on the Concept Car provide a clear hint as to the actual production of an appropriate series model within one year.
* Typical features of a BMW X model combined with elegant, sleek proportions. This alone gives the BMW Concept X1 unique character with the range of BMW X models as a whole.
* The striking frontal view clearly expresses the robust and powerful character of the car by emphasising its sheer width. A floor protection element finished in a different colour gives additional emphasis to the wide track.
* The BMW Concept X1 comes with dual round headlights cut off at the top in the typical style of the BMW brand, complete with a white-coloured horizontal cover at the top edge. The position of the headlights and foglamps brings back the three-eye face of other BMW X models.
* Six contour lines and the three-dimensional shape define the surface design of the engine compartment lid emanating a strong feeling of dynamic performance. The inner lines taper out sharply to the front towards the BMW kidney grille, the outer lines continue into the shoulder contours at the side.
* Through its centre of gravity visibly positioned right in the middle, the small distance between the front axle and the steering wheel, and the almost square contours of the wheel cutouts, the side view of the BMW Concept X1 draws a clear parallel to other BMW X models. Black body surrounds made of a special, robust synthetic material highlight the clear orientation towards the wheels. The sturdy, silver-coloured roof railing extends far to the rear, determining the course of the roofline together with the spoiler at the back.
* Characteristic rear end with L-shaped rear light clusters ensuring a homogeneous light effect thanks to LED light tubes. Raked to a low angle, the rear window gives the BMW Concept X1 a truly sporting touch, the horizontal lines emphasising the sheer width of the vehicle.
* As a special design feature specific to this model, three-dimensional surrounds encompass the headlights and rear light clusters and help to create the special graphics of the side windows.
Chevrolet Silverado HD
Chevy has been spotted with an updated front bumper. The bumper corners have been softened with the addition of plastic to their uppermost portion from end to end. The inlet in the middle of the bumper that feeds air to the transmission oil cooler has been enlarged by about a third, which may signify changes to the Allison transmission. The spotted front grille is likely to be temporary, with a different grille for 2011 still under wraps.
For 2010, the Duramax diesel is expected to see increased power numbers (reportedly over 700 lb-ft of torque), while meeting the upcoming 2010 EPA diesel emissions regulations.
Stay tuned for details as we learn more about the future of GM HD Trucks!
Ford Explorer
All right. Ford has the Escape, Edge, Taurus X (for now) and Flex. Does it need another crossover? The automaker's hope is that a 2011 Explorer, based on the Taurus/Flex's D3 front-drive unibody platform can capture a small portion of the 400,000+ per-year buyers the body-on-frame Explorer attracted in its heyday.
Previewed by the 2008 Explorer America concept drawn up at Freeman Thomas' advanced design studio in California, the next model looks to become a direct competitor for the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot, delineating itself from the Flex's larger, people-mover image. Unlike the current Explorer, it's not likely to be offered with a V-8 engine, but with V-6s ranging up to the 3.5L Ecoboost engine.
Bottom Line: The Explorer goes from erstwhile bestseller to niche model within Ford's thinly sliced lineup of crossovers.
Ford F-250/350 Super Duty
Our spies have caught the first covered and camouflaged test trucks of the Ford F-250 Super Duty, scheduled to arrive by 2011. The 2011 Super Duty is expected to receive a major styling refresh, probably as significant as it received as part of the 2008 model year update. The current blue oval Super Dutys took their exterior inspiration from the mighty Ford F-350 Tonka concept that made its debut at the 2002 Detroit auto show. For the new pickup, the inspiration appears to be the bold Ford F-250Super ChiefConcept first shown at the 2006 Detroit show. The photos show two massive chrome bars stretched across the grille with a prominent Ford oval badge resting between them. There's likely a third bar resting above the strong front bumper. The tester's grille bars have more space between them than the tight tolerances of those on the Super Chief, allowing for real-world cooling and airflow. The current Super Duty's hallmark side nostrils appear to have vanished, replaced by distinctive trim pieces on the sides of the grille that (at least for now) end abruptly at the top intake. You can also expect to see new taillights, which will probably be similar to those on the new 2009 Ford F-150.
Mechanically, we expect the 2011 Super Duty will carry over Ford's 6.7-liter Scorpion V-8 diesel that's expected to make its debut in the 2010 model year trucks. The gas engine will likely be the new 6.2-liter premium V-8, which should replace the current 6.8-liter V-10 next year. We also anticipate an end to the availability of manual tranjies, though the engineering mules in these pictures show Ford continuing its unique tradition of manual locking front hubs for four-wheel-drive Super Dutys.
2011 Ford F-59 Super Duty Chassis
The revamped 2011 F-59 Super Duty commercial stripped chassis was introduced at the National Truck Equipment Association show in Chicago earlier this year.
More demanding commercial duties might better be undertaken with the revised F-59 Super Duty chassis. It's based on the current F-53 Super Duty motorhome underpinnings, but is made significantly stronger for commercial form and offers three new gross vehicle weight ratings (GVWR) for improved versatility. E-Series vehicles today feature a maximum 14,000 lbs GWVR rating, but the buffer F-59 Super Duty units can be ordered with 16,000 lbs; 19,500 lbs; or 22,000 lbs spec.
Pulling the load is the lineup's proven 6.8L Triton V-10 with five-speed automatic TorqShift gearbox. It's a five-year old combo, but still seems to do the job quite well, Ford claims. Bigger stabilizer bars along with smoother riding Bilstein shocks provide a suppler, yet capable, suspension setup. Additionally, variable-rate jounce bumpers were installed to further help dissipate road vibrations. Standard four-wheel ABS brings the whole package to a standstill confidently when the situation calls for it. Pricing has yet to be announced, but it's expected nearer to the platform's January 2010 introduction.
Hyundai Tucson
Hyundai's mid-range 2011 Tucson crossover has recently been spotted undergoing some very intense cold weather testing in the freezing Bavarian forest under a well-camouflaged guise.
As you can tell, the black coverings hide the new SUV fairly efficiently without any real clue as to the upcoming model's future design language. Insiders, of course, describe its styling to be a modern, more exciting rendition of the current crossover's bland and round looks. Designers most likely will take character traits from its sleek Genesis siblings.
Word on the street indicates the redesigned off-roader will be powered by a four-cylinder lineup of engines in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms. A recently finished in-house developed six-speed automatic designed for less fuel consumption in mind will likely find its way into the sportier 2011 Tucson as well. As usual, diesel variants are expected to be offered to customers outside of North America.
Currently, the 2008 Tucson employs either a 2.0L four-cylinder (140-hp/136 lb-ft) or 2.7L V-6 (173-hp/178 lb-ft) mated to a five-speed manual or automatic transmission. Expect more images and information to spring up in the coming months as its rumored late 2009/early 2010 release date approaches.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Jeep Grand Cherokee has long been one of the most handsome SUVs on the market, and the new model is no exception. With Chrysler design's newfound emphasis on what's on the inside, the interior may no longer be a disappointment. The company touts the crossover's "premium soft-touch interior materials for all price classes," and even a leather instrument panel for the top-of-the-range Overland trim model.
A rare viable Chrysler model in Europe, Jeep promises the new one will be built in left- and right-hand-drive versions. It will come only with two rows of seats and with a bit more emphasis on luxury to compete with the new Cadillac SRX and Lexus RX, among others. The slow-selling Jeep Commander is a short-timer -- you'll find a new three-row Dodge Durango sharing the Grand Cherokee's rear-drive, unibody platform next year at your local Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer.
The new Grand Cherokee is also the first Chrysler product to make use of the new Phoenix V-6 engine family, in this case a 280-hp, 260 lb-ft, 3.6L unit. The 360-hp, 390-lb-ft, 5.7L Hemi V-8 will still be offered and Europeans will be able to check a box labeled "diesel." Suspension is all new, independent at the four corners.
Three 4x4 options remain: Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II, and Quadra-Drive II with electronic limited slip. A new Selec-Terrain system with Quadra-Trac II and Quadra-Drive II has five terrain settings, automatic, sand/mud, sport, snow, and rock. The 4x2 will have the highest tow rating, however, at 7400 lb. Jeep has added 3.0 gal to the fuel tank, for 24.6, and claims a range of more than 500 miles with the new V-6.
Bottom Line: Looks good -- that is, if Chrysler can stay around long enough to produce it
Mini Crossman
These photos illustrate the Mini Crossover Concept first revealed at the Paris auto show last fall. We're pleased to tell you that this baby has life, and is on its way to production.
Expect a Clubman-like package with an increased ride height and either standard or optional all wheel drive. It won't be as "shiny" as the show car, likely trading some of the gloss for sturdier materials and perhaps a cargo area trimmed for outdoorsy duty.
No word on powertrains at this point, but its reasonable to expect the first Mini crossover will be offered with the Clubman's naturally aspirated and turbocharged powerplants. The production version will likely debut at the Frankfurt auto show this fall, going on sale some time in mid to late calendar 2010. The name is still TBD, but we vote for Crossman or Traveler.
BOTTOM LINE: How could this not succeed in the U.S.?
Mitsubishi Outlander GT
The Mistubishi Outlander GT Prototype's most prominent exterior feature is up front where the automaker has grafted on the menacing "Jet Fighter" snout from the Lancer Evolution. And the fun doesn't stop there. Mitsu is planning to use the sportier Outlander to showcase a host of technological goodies including Idle Neutral Logic, a system that automatically shifts the Outlander's six-speed Sportronic automatic transmission into neutral when at a standstill to conserve fuel. Under the hood, the 220-hp 3.0-liter MIVEC V-6 engine from the top-line Outlander XLS will be linked to Mitsubishi's Super-All-Wheel-Control drive system.
No official word on when or if this vehicle will hit production for the U.S. market. But we recently heard Mitu failed to have the name registered. Stay tuned as we learn more!
Nissan Murano Convertible
A Nissan Murano convertible made news tickers nearly 9 months ago, but little has been heard about it since that last summer. Reportedly, it is still in the works and is slated for a release by the summer of 2010 as a 2011 model. It will be released in limited numbers and is targeted at empty-nesters who want a fun ride for the grandkids with all the amenities. Similar to the current 370Z, the Murano convertible will use a soft top to keep the weight and cost down.
In addition to the soft top, the 2011 Nissan Murano convertible will use a two-door configuration, and be powered by the current 3.5L V-6 with 265 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is expected to be Nissan's CVT, which will be linked to either front or all-wheel drive.
No official photos have surfaced as of yet, but we'll keep you posted as soon as we see them!
Bottom Line: Is a convertible SUV what we need?
Nissan NV200
By Scott Evans
The new Nissan NV200 made its debut at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, following hot on the heels of the U.S.-model Transit Connect's debut in Chicago earlier this year.
Little brother to the recently debuted NV2500 commercial van, the NV200 boasts some impressive capabilities of its own. For starters, as a pure cargo-carrier, it will swallow 144.8 cu-ft of cargo with a payload up to 1700 lbs thanks to its FWD architecture and low-profile leaf-spring rear-suspension. That's nearly 10 more cubic-feet and 100 lb-greater payload capacity than the Transit Connect. The NV200's load floor is also eight inches longer than the Transit Connects at 80.5 inches, and Nissan has Ford beat in seating as well, offering seven seats to the Transit Connect's five.
Where Ford has an edge, though, is under the hood. The U.S.-spec Transit Connect's 2.0L gasoline engine makes more power, at 136 hp, than either of the NV200's engines and only the Nissan's diesel can beat the Ford's 128 lb-ft of torque. The NV200 will sport either an all-aluminum 1.6L gasoline engine that produces 106 hp and 113 lb-ft of torque or a Renault-sourced 1.5L diesel producing 85 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque. Both of the NV200's engines will be mated to a five-speed manual transmission, while the Transit Connect gets a four-speed automatic with overdrive.
The NV200 will come in three flavors, as a cargo van, a "Combi" version that hauls seven people and cargo or a more plush seven-passenger people-mover. Unlike other vans, the NV200's seats will not be removable, should you order them. Instead, the middle-row seats will split 60/40 and will tumble forward and stow to create a flat cargo floor. The rear seats, meanwhile, will fold against the sides of the van to make more cargo space. All models will come with dual side sliding doors, though the side windows will be optional on the cargo van. While the cargo van will receive two French doors on the rear, the passenger-friendly model will feature a full-sized tailgate. Buyers of the Combi model will be able to choose between the two rear-door options.
Bottom Line: Should the NV200 come to the U.S., it would likely put up a tough fight against Ford's new commercial van.
Nissan NV2500
Nissan will continue the planned launch of its Commercial Vehicles division. The group will be focused squarely on taking a chunk of market share from the dominant domestic automakers. The NV2500 concept seen here, serves as a preview of the three all-new vehicles Nissan CV will bring to North America once operations are in full swing in 2010.
Built on a modified Titan chassis, this particular NV2500 model was designed specifically for construction contractor applications. It features original styling, with a bold front grille, flared fenders and steeped roofline. A retro-inspired wraparound glass windshield also makes it into the front design. To the rear, 60/40 split rear doors open completely to give access to the "wall-less" three-zone interior space.
While inside, contractors will find multiple storage bins for tools, a computer workstation, conference table, cargo racks and nearly six-feet of interior height. An awning-style side panel provides weather and sun protection while accessing tool chests.
Nissan has invested over $118 million into its Canton, Mississippi production plant to accommodate for additional CV production. Five other models already in production around the world will join the three North American designed CV vehicles.
2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid
Underneath the hood of the upcoming 2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid will be a gas V-6 TSI engine paired with an all-new eight-speed automatic transmission. A parallel hybrid system will utilize a 52-hp electric motor, which will be capable of operating in tandem with the gas engine when slightly more oomph is needed. At maximum power, 374 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque will be temporarily available when the transmission is either kicked down or the gearshift selector is in the "S" position. Normal power output is rated at 333 hp, and the Touareg Hybrid is capable of returning 26 mpg. The Touareg Hybrid will be able to run on the electric motor alone at speeds of up to 31 mph.
Also impressive is the Touareg V6 TSI Hybrid's reported towing capacity. The towing capacity is rated at 3.5 metric tons, just shy of 4 U.S. tons at 7716 lb.
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"What I liked about the Book of Friends is that it's an idea that's centuries old, but modern graffiti artists have been keeping the tradition alive through the common practice of 'getting up' on black books. Who would have thought that an inner city art form would be responsible for continuing a tradition begun hundreds of years ago by nobility?"
These were the thoughts of artist Man One when we asked him a few questions about helping to make the Getty Graffiti Black Book, officially known as LA Liber Amicorum—both as a creator and as a curator who recruited 19 other artists to fill pages for this multi-voice, multi-media compendium of street art. We got some great responses from the other Los Angeles graffiti and tattoo artists involved, too, especially surrounding that age-old art historical argument, form versus content.
What's more important, the style or the message?
Gorgs: The style is the message.
Prime: The message, because if your message is lousy, all the typography in the world won't help one bit.
Defer: I think both are important, but I must say that I would like to see more messages in art these days. I think before art was used more as a vehicle to relay a message or statement to the viewer.
Eye One: They are intrinsically linked. Everything conveys a message.
Angst: I don't believe it's an either/or. It's more akin to and or in addition to…A message with no style comes across as propaganda, whether personal or political (i.e., "dumb," or without human ingenuity). But style with no message appears as mere decoration (i.e., vacuous and superficial, without human depth).
We also asked the artists about street art in Los Angeles, and weren't surprised that there was little agreement on that subject, either.
What is "L.A. street art" to you? How is it different here than in other cities?
Prime: It is the voice of the individual who seeks to reach those who question the norm.
Defer: To me, street art is a broad term that covers so many areas. Before, it was mainly graffiti, but now it seems to be used for anything even remotely related to graffiti. I think L.A. has its own distinct style or identity that is now recognized throughout the world. It's a hybrid of traditional placaso hand styles, Old English fonts, and traditional New York graffiti styles.
Eye One: "L.A. street art" is a bit of a misnomer, especially in its current use in the context of graffiti. I consider the entirety of the public space as a container for "art in the streets." The transition of the northbound 110 carpool lane to the westbound 105 is street art. The Griffith Observatory is street art. The Chicano murals of the '60s are street art.
Angst: Yikes, such an open-ended, all-encompassing question! If you mean L.A. graffiti, which pre-dates the current handle of "street art," I would say, to me, it's gang graffiti. There is no pretense in gang writing. It's not trying to be "art," much less "street art." It's different here than in other cities because gang graffiti is homegrown, not imported. It's a direct assertion of place and environment as expressed by L.A. youths. It's a historic, vibrant, living heritage conveyed in practice on public walls. Even if the style is adopted and tweaked by other locales, it's derivative of "here." And "here" is important.
Where there was more agreement was around the experience of seeing rare books from the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s, which curator David Brafman selected for the artists during their visits to the Research Institute.
What was your experience of discovering the rare books at the Research Institute?
Prime: Mesmerizing—I was almost in disbelief that these books had been so well preserved. Some went back 300, even 400 years. Their beauty is timeless.
Eye One: I was blown away by all the books presented to us in relation to this project. I am fascinated by typography and letterforms, and seeing such a vast wealth of unique works really impressed me. Johann Heinrich Gruber's Liber Amicorum (1602–12) is an amazing antecedent to the work graffiti writers do in black books. I appreciate the Getty's understanding of the lineage graffiti shares with such a volume. It relates directly to my black books, as I have always asked friends, peers, and colleagues to contribute work to their pages.
Angst: I was in awe at the palpable "life" present in the work, and in the rare books that I saw at the Getty. By which I mean I was electrified, and humbled, to hold the hand-crafted books in my hands and turn their pages, as well as to be able to look closely and study the pages/drawings/manuscripts.
I related to these rare books as one who recognizes a colleague in arms. Had I been born in an earlier age, I would've been a scribe, and I examined these books with a scribe's eye and hand. It was wonderful to retrace with my finger the previous hand of a long dead scribe or artist who drew, wrote, and made the choices or decisions on the page regarding the scale, weight, composition, unity, consistency, spacing, of the letters and images.
Text of this post © J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.
To browse all 143 pages of the Graffiti Black Book, including more of the rare books that inspired it, and to see the full list of contributing artists, see this page.


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Combination low-dose estrogen-growth hormone therapy induced greater height and improved psychosocial and cognitive function in girls with Turner syndrome.
The New England Journal of Medicine
Giving girls with Turner syndrome low doses of estrogen, as well as growth hormone, years before the onset of puberty, increases their height and offers a wealth of other benefits, say a team of researchers led by Thomas Jefferson University. Their report is published in the March 31st issue of .
The study, which took more than 20 years to complete, will change the practice of treating girls with Turner syndrome, says the study's lead author, Judith Ross, MD, professor of Pediatrics at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and AI DuPont Hospital for Children.
"Our goal is to improve the health and lives of girls and women with Turner syndrome or with other disorders that interrupt normal ovarian function," says Dr. Ross. "This study shows that our strategy accomplishes that."
Currently, most girls with Turner's syndrome receive estrogen only at the onset of puberty, she says. Turner syndrome, which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says occurs in 1 out of 2,500 female births worldwide, develops when a female (X) sex chromosome is missing in cells or is abnormal. These girls are typically of short stature and have a loss of ovarian function.
The findings are validation of a theory that Dr. Ross and her colleagues proposed in the NEJM 25 years ago (she was then completing a fellowship at the NIH). They suggested that typically developing girls produce small amounts of estrogen before puberty, and that in girls with Turner syndrome, a combination of very low doses of estrogen as well as growth hormone would work synergistically to increase height and improve overall cognitive functioning.
"The goal was to mimic what happens with in normal ovarian development, not to induce puberty," says Dr. Ross.
But the notion was controversial, she adds. "People thought that estrogen use at an early age in these patients could cause growth plates to fuse and to stop development — just as you see in a typically developing teenage girl who has a pubertal growth spurt and then stops growing."
Testing such a theory required a rigorous placebo-controlled clinical trial that could follow girls with Turner syndrome from childhood through adolescence and pubertal development until adult height was attained.
In this study, 149 girls with Turner syndrome, ages 5-12 years old, who were treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital or at the National Institutes of Health between 1987 and 2003, were randomized to one of four groups: placebo (no growth hormone or estrogen), growth hormone alone, estrogen alone, or growth hormone and estrogen in combination.
The amount of estrogen administered to girls randomized to receive it was only 1/50th of the dose the girls would be given once they reached puberty, Dr. Ross says.
The study showed that girls who started using the low dose estrogen at the average age of nine and who also used growth hormone grew an average of 3 inches taller than girls who didn't use growth hormone, or girls treated with only low dose estrogen. Girls treated with growth hormone alone were an inch shorter than the combination treatment group. Not only did estrogen increase the girl's height, it also improved psychosocial and cognitive functioning, Dr. Ross says. Once the girls reached puberty, they were all treated with higher doses of estrogen.
According to current standard medical treatment, girls with Turner syndrome are treated with higher doses of growth hormone, at more frequent intervals, than was used in this study; consequently today's patients are taller than in this study. "It should be noted that adult height within the normal range was attained in 40 percent of growth-hormone-treated patients in this study but in only 4 percent of none-growth-hormone-treated patients," Dr. Ross says. "This research also shows that use of low dose estrogen is synergistic with growth hormone."
"There is a place for estrogen replacement prior to puberty in girls who need it, and we have made the case that replacing it earlier in these children is very beneficial," she says.
The findings may also benefit girls whose ovarian function has been damaged by chemotherapy or surgical removal, or other disorders, Dr. Ross adds.
Source: Thomas Jefferson University


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Many a hacker has put together one of those cheap $30 robot arm kits you can get in just about any store with a section labeled, "science". In an ongoing search for a cheap robot arm, [Larry] decided to modify one of them to be controlled with a PC through an Arduino. The article doubles as a really basic tutorial on dc motor control. On the site he gives a brief explanation of how to use H-bridges and a good explanation of how he wired them up for this purpose. He eventually goes on to add a processing interface to the project. The next step would be figuring out how to add some kind of position feedback, such as encoders. Though, if modifying an arm is not your style, [Larry] has another cool article on rolling your own robot arm cheaply with some foam board and hobby servos.
12 thoughts on "Modifying A Cheap Robot Arm For Arduino Control"
Bring on the douchebag Arduino haters in 3…2…1….
There is a tutorial on instructable on how to add optical encoder into this arm in order to get position feedback.
Where is that tutorial haltux? I can't find it. Got a link?
I have an inkling to make one of these bots with encoders. I work with a pair of industrial robots for my research group, and having a miniature set would certainly allow for me to study kinematics and try and build the appropriate software. On that note, can anyone recommend a good open-source software for controlling robotic arms?
A cheap option would be to mod in some potentiometers for position feedback
please tell me more
I followed Larry's great tutorial last summer and made one of these. I extended it with some different control options: the first being the TI ez430 Chronos wrist-watch – using its built in accelerometer and RF link for physical control. The second being a retrofitted webcam and some visual processing software – tracking coloured objects and feeding back instructions to the arduino in order to keep the arm focussed on the target. Really fun little project! Check out my video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs0HIg_-9wg -
Also another project my classmates and me made with this arm.
Here is the link:
I have not done it and I am not sure I will try it. Typically the kind of thing that look easy when you read the tutorial and is much less easy when you have the glue/dremel/soldering iron in your hand.
My project is to connect the arm to a computer and use a webcam for feedback/object detection.
I saw one of these in a toy store and was really thinking hard about buying one to do something like this with…but I couldn't think of any use I'd have for a robot arm.
@Abbott: Have you tried ROS? I haven't used it for arm control myself, but a guy in my lab does and it works well for a 7-DOF arm.
I think the arm kinematics and motion planning come from third-party libraries, not the base ROS stack, but I can't recall the names.
Pls i need a robotic arm ASAP. Its urgent!!!.
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Minecraft 1.4.6 & 1.4.7 Hacked Client – WeepCraft + Download 🙂
1.4.7 compatible!
Client by: FLYCODER
Left Control: GUI
H: Advanced Hud
WorldEdit Griefing (Requires OP & WorldEdit) (NC+)
180 – Turns you around (NC+)
AfkDetect – Detect afk players (NC+)
Aimbot – Auto aims at near by players (NC+)
All – Toggles all hacks in the window (NC+)
Annihilator – Multi ID Nuker (NC+)
AntiHurtcam – No screen shake on hits (NC+)
AntiKnockback – No Knockback on hit (NC+)
ArmorESP – Item ESP for players (NC+)
AutoAccept – Auto Accepts TPA requests from friends (NC+)
AutoBlock – Auto blocks if sword is in hand (NC+)
AutoDig – Auto Digs for choosen block (NC+)
AutoDisconnect – Auto Disconnects at set hearts (NC+)
AutoEat – Auto eats when hunger is low (NC+)
AutoFish – Auto fishes if your facing water (NC+)
AutoHeal – Auto heals you faster than normal
AutoMiner – Auto mines when mouse is over a block (NC+)
AutoPlace – Auto places block on mouse over
AutoPoison – Auto eats when hunger is low (NC+)
AutoRegister – Auto Register on (cracked,offline) mode servers (NC+)
AutoRespawn – Auto respawns on death (NC+)
AutoSign – Auto sets sign text (NC+)
AutoStew – Auto eats stew on low hp (KitPvP) (NC+)
AutoSwitch – Auto switches hand item (NC+)
AutoTool – Auto picks the best tool on block click (NC+)
AutoTorch – Auto places torch if light level is below set amount (NC+)
AutoWalk – Auto walks (NC+)
BowAimbot – Aims at players with the bow (NC+)
Build – Auto builds on [Right Click/Update]
BunnyHop – Bunny hops for faster speed (NC+)
ChestESP – See Chests (NC+)
ChestStealer – Steals nearby chests (NC+)
Clear – Clears the chat and console (NC+)
Crasher – Trys to Crashes Online Mode Server (NC+)
CustomKeybind – Binds a key to send message to console (NC+)
Day – Sets the world time to day (NC+)
Derp – Sets your look position to random things (NC+)
Drop – [All,Hotbar,Inventory,Creative,Command] [ItemID] Drops items uses (NC+)
Emo – Hits your self
FastPlace – Places blocks faster than normal (NC+)
Flight – Levitates off the ground or glides
Follow – Follows a player (NC+)
Font – CustomFont Strings (NC+)
Freecam – Goes out of your body (NC+)
FullBright – See in the dark (NC+)
Ghost – Alows you to walk while dead *Cant do anything beside walking (NC+)
God – Makes you unkillable 'you cant move but still hit'
GuiMenu – Opens the gui (NC+)
Help – Gets all commands (NC+)
HighJump – Jumps higher than normal
HitESP – Makes a ESP on the player if you can hit him (NC+)
InstantEat – Instantly (eats,drinks) (NC+)
Jesus – Walks,Lava on water (NC+)
JetPack – JetPack fly upwards when pressing space
Keybind – Binds hack to choosen key (NC+)
KillAura – Kills near by entitys (NC+)
Knockback – Knockback entitys on hit
Label – Puts labels on entity (Mobs/Items) (NC+)
Mine – Mines faster than normal (NC+)
MobESP – Extrasensory perception (NC+)
NoCheat – Bypass NoCheat/NoCheatPlus (NC+)
NoClip – Noclips though blocks max 8
NoFall – No fall damage
NoRender – Stops rendering (Items/XP/Boats/Minecarts) and so on (NC+)
NoResis – No resistance on (Soulsand,Water,Web)
NoSwing – No swinging on your arm on mouse click
NoWeather – No (Rain,Storm,Snow) (NC+)
NoWorld – Avoids Damage from (Cactus,Fire) (NC+)
Notify – Notifys you if a player is in range (NC+)
Nuker – Auto breaks block around you (NC+)
OP – OP's your entire alt list [Requires OP] (NC+)
OpAbuse – Respect my authority (Requires OP & Essentials) (NC+)
Overlay – Block overlay for (nuker, build, items) (NC+)
Panic – Turns of EVERYTHING (NC+)
Ping – Opens the ping gui (NC+)
PlayerEsp – Extrasensory perception (NC+)
Protect – Name protect client side (NC+)
Pwnage – External Pwnage (NC+)
Recording – Hides your name and your alt lists name (NC+)
RemoteView – [Name] See though orther players eyes (NC+)
SafeAfk – Disconnects on hit (NC+)
Say – Sends a chat message (Mainly used for CustomKeys) (NC+)
Scrape – Scrapes all online usernames to WeepScrapes.txt (NC+)
Search – Searchs for block ID (NC+)
Sneak – Sneaks for you (NC+)
Social – Player status (NC+)
Spammer – Opens the Spammer (NC+)
Spawn – [Name] Spawns a client side NPC (NC+)
Speed – Walk Faster than normal
SpiderClimb – Climb blocks
Sprint – Auto sprints (NC+)
Step – Steps over blocks (NC+)
TeleportClick – Teleport on block click
Throw – Throws set amount on Right Click
Thrust – Thrust throws you forward and upwards
Timer – Sets the world faster than normal
Tracer – Traces entitys (NC+)
Track – Tracks player movement (NC+)
Wallhack – See Players though blocks (NC+)
WaterBreath – Beaths underwater 'Requires a bucket in your inventory' (NC+)
Waypoint – Waypoint A point between major points on a route, a along a track. (NC+)
Window – Custom Gui Windows (NC+)
Xray – See though blocks (NC+)
Zoom – Zooms your camera view (NC+)
getHigh – Get high minecraft style! (NC+)
Download: HERE!!!


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Cracked Round-Up: Our 2013 Resolution Edition
Moderation- or, rather, lack thereof- is the chief reason most New Year's resolutions fail. People start by going whole hog with some new diet and then end up exhausting their willpower and burning out. When you fail in as many crusades for self-improvement as we have, you learn this sort of thing.
So this year, rather than make impossible promises to ourselves, we've set a simple goal: transition from our crippling addiction to horse tranquilizers over to a much healthier addiction to human tranquilizers. And maybe the odd box of cat drugs tossed in there for good measure. It won't be an easy road, but with the help of our good friends "liquor" and "morphine" we feel confident in our eventual success.
Just in time to miss gift-giving season, Brendan McGinley released the worst gift catalog possible. Adam Brown kept the "bad decisions" theme alive with a look at alcohol ads that confirm your worst drinking fears. Bucholz listed the top seven Things of all time while Gladstone explored meaningless popular excuses. Gladstone followed himself up with the appropriately titled "5 Obnoxious Things That Won't Go Away in 2013". John Cheese discussed the excuses that stop us from growing up, before Brockway told a story of vigilante justice from his childhood. Felix Clay closed us off with office pranks that went awry.
The 6 Craziest Beliefs Entire Cultures Have Held About Sex
Pregnancy seems pretty straightforward to us, because doctors have had the physical aspects of it pretty well nailed down for the last couple of centuries. But imagine there was no such thing as "medical science". You'd have dreamed up some crazy-ass explanations for the whole "person factory" thing too.
Notable Comment: "I thought female orgasms were just urban legends!"
CorneliusFunk will die alone.
5 Medical Breakthroughs That Make Life Shockingly Easy
We're going to need a stronger word for "lazy".
Notable Comment: "I'm on propranalol right now. Just sitting back and waiting for the anti-racism to set in...."
If it were that simple, mm_minty, there are a couple of cities where we'd just as soon add this to the water supply.
The 6 Most Baffling Video Game Spinoffs
Because nothing pays honor to the legacy of a great game like cashing in on its name recognition to push crazy bullshit.
Notable Comment: "And yet another way to get a jab at the Sonic franchise. Like that hasn't been done before."
KoolCartoons sleeps with his thighs curled around a worn-out Dreamcast every night.
11 Old War Photographs You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped
War: Sometimes it lives up to the hype.
Notable Comment: "The leftmost guy in the "Wehrmacht crossdressing" picture is making a freaking duck face."
We won the war, zeGermann. But at what cost?
5 Shocking Side Effects of Foods You Eat Every Day
Y'know, it might just be better to filter nourishment out of the air like some sort of reverse whale.
Notable Comment: "Sooo, I should drink before I go to school?"
Yes reaperdeath, but if you weren't already than nothing we say can convince you to act like a reasonable student.
Today's Topic
Why the Good Guys in Star Fox are on a Suicide Mission
None of them are getting out of that war alive.
31 Great Things Ruined by Misspelling a Single Letter
We're practically giving money away! Wait, not practically. Totally. We're totally giving away money to people, people with mediocre to decent Photoshop skills. People like you. Wouldn't you like to be a person like you? This week, you can be by entering our latest contests, How Fictional Technology Would Suck in Real Life, Tiny Mistakes that Lead to Huge Disasters, If Facebook Photos Came With Subtext Labeled and Realistic Reactions to Famous Movie Lines.


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Sarah McLachlan
singer, songwriter
Born: 1/28/1968
Birthplace: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Although considered part of the recent wave of women singer-songwriters, from 1996–1999 Sarah McLachlan had been integral in showcasing women performers through the Lilith Fair, a summer festival show, which had been called the female Lollapalooza. By 1997, McLachlan was an established star in her native Canada, and a rising star in the United States on the strength of five albums, beginning with Touch in 1989, which yielded the college radio hits "Vox" and "Steaming." 1994's Fumbling Toward Ecstasy further increased her popularity, selling more than 2 million copies in the U.S. In 1995, she released The Freedom Sessions, a multimedia disc that included unreleased material and interactive videos. Her 1997 release, Surfacing, debuted at number two on the pop charts, received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album, and produced "Building a Mystery," McLachlan's first top-ten hit and the winner of the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance. In addition, she was awarded a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("Last Dance"). She took several years off from touring and recording, returning with 2003's album Afterglow. She has also participated in the tsunami relief telethon and the Live 8 concerts. She is married to her drummer Ashwin Sood and they have a daughter.


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We're very pleased to announce the launch of some new initiatives to encourage Festival-goers to come to this year's Glastonbury by bicycle, as part of our new Green Traveller campaign. As well as reducing their carbon footprint and avoiding being stuck in car traffic queues, anyone who does arrive on their bike will get several benefits, including a free lock-up and an allocated campsite just for cyclists. We'll even transport your luggage/camping gear to the Festival for you.
Plus, of course, like anyone arriving at this year's Festival by public transport, they'll get a Green Traveller card which gives discounts on food and T-shirts, as well as exclusive access to solar showers and compost toilets.
Even better, if you're in Bristol or one of 30 towns within 20 miles of the site, you'll be able to join an organised ride and have your luggage delivered to the Festival.
For full information, head over to our Arriving by Bike section.


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Anyone with an ounce of brain in their head knew the Home Office was going to be banned from using its advertising vans again – the ones telling illegal immigrants to "go home", in the language of "knuckle-dragging racists", as Owen Jones so memorably phrased it.
That is, anyone except everyone working at the Home Office, including the Secretary of State – Theresa May.
The Advertising Standards Authority ordered the Home Secretary not to put the vans on the streets again, saying the phrase "go home" was indeed a reminder of a racist slogan and "clearly carries baggage".
The authority also said the posters on the vans referred to inaccurate arrest statistics, claiming there had been 106 arrests in the area in the past week. The ASA said this was misleading as it did not relate to accurate arrest statistics for the specific areas where people would have seen the vans.
They were out in Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow – areas the Home Office believe many illegal immigrants live and work.
The report stated: "The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told the Home Office to ensure that in future they held adequate substantiation for their advertising claims and that qualifications were presented clearly."
The ASA had received 224 complaints about the vans from individuals, campaign groups, legal academics and the Labour peer Lord Lipsey, who is from Vox Political's home constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire, we're proud to say.
But in an impressive display of tightrope-walking the ASA said the van campaign was not offensive or irresponsible. While the "Go home" slogan had been used in the past to attack immigrants, its report said, the Home Office was now using it in a different context.
Oh! Well, that makes it perfectly acceptable, doesn't it? Never mind the possibility that nobody seeing those vans in the street was ever likely to consider such a nuance, it was "unlikely to incite or exacerbate racial hatred and tensions in multi-cultural communities" because the intention was different!
What about the message implied by these vans – a message that was clearly pointed out by commentators at the time – that Conservative-leaning voters should treat with hatred, suspicion and contempt anybody who is not a white, Anglo-Saxon protestant?
What about the way they encouraged suspicion that another person may be an illegal immigrant?
What about the way the Home Office Twitter account spent the week-long pilot period in which the vans were traipsing round London tweeting messages about the number of illegal immigrants it wanted us to believe had been detected or turned themselves in? Can we believe those figures, if the number on the vans themselves was fake?
What about the photographs transmitted by the same Twitter account, of suspects who had been arrested, before they had been charged? Does anybody remember if any of these people were the white Anglo Saxons mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago?
What about the spot-checks at railway stations, where anybody who was not clearly white could be stopped by immigration officers wearing stab vests who demanded to see identification proving they were in the UK legally? How galling was it for British citizens – people who were born and raised in this country – to be faced by a flak-jacketed fiend who (it is claimed) became unreasonably aggressive when challenged over their right to behave in this manner without direct cause for suspicion?
What about the fact that the Home Office undermined its own arguments by being unable to reveal the different ethnicities of the people who were stopped – information that was vital in determining whether they had been breaking the law?
What about the fact that all of this effort was hugely out of proportion when considering the number of illegal immigrants it was likely to net? Forget forced labourers who are brought into the country but kept hidden by criminal organisations – these are not responsible for what happened to them and their cases are likely to be part of criminal investigations into the people holding them captive. Who does that leave?
And what about the possibility that this was not about illegal immigrants at all, but a sop to all those people – many of them Daily Mail readers, we expect – who believe that immigration of any kind is out of control? These are people who need to get to grips with the facts. As reported by this blog and others back in August, the UK has a lower immigrant population than almost any 'developed' nation; they are assessed via a points-based system, only seven per cent are asylum-seekers and only a third of asylum claims are accepted. They do not have access to most of the benefits available to UK citizens and what they do receive are nowhere near the same value. They are one-third less likely to claim those benefits, meagre as they are, than UK citizens.
The Unite union has been seeking legal advice over this matter, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission has also been investigating this. It will be interesting to see what they say.
But a rap on the knuckles over bad information is a good start. Naughty, naughty, Theresa May!
On the same day, the Home Secretary – along with Justice Secretary Chris Grayling – faced questions from two Lords committees on the UK's 2014 opt-out from EU police and criminal justice measures, as part of a reopened inquiry.
If this opt-out is exercised, the Coalition government has listed 35 measures that it would seek to rejoin, and it is these that prompted the Lords to reopen their inquiries.
Parliament's own website said they were likely to face questions on how they defined the national interest in selecting the 35 measures the UK would seek to rejoin, and whether the changes will break the UK's obligations to European arrest treaties.
And there were questions to be answered on whether non-participation on measures dealing with xenophobia and racism (the issues at the heart of the matter with the advertising vans) sent an "unfortunate" signal to other EU member states that the UK, under a Conservative-led government, no longer regards those issues as important.
Fortunately for Theresa May, these proceedings do not appear to have been made public.


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Each year I have huge quantities of small cherry plums (roughly 2x cherry size). The problem is the pits. Is there a large mesh cheesecloth available I could try?
- I've tried cooking partially, then a food mill. The pits get jammed under the wiper.
- I've tried a cherry pitter. Messy and slow.
- I've tried a paperclip to get the pits out. Slow.
- I've tired of cutting the pits out.
Can I cook up the jam partially then run through a large mesh bag, to separate the pits? Maybe a woven polyester? What kind of mesh bag would be large enough to pass pulp, small enough to hold pits, strong enough to survive the twist and squeeze,and also food safe?


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A Saturn V liftoff is spectacular, and the launch of Apollo 11 was no exception. But it didn't give the audience any surprises. To the three Gemini-experienced pilots, who likened the sensation to the boost of a Titan II, it was a normal launch.


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1: Visit all SIX blogs and leave a comment on each. This way we know you were there. Become a follower if you're not already. Take your time. There are beautiful things to see along the way.
2: Before you leave each blog, look for the "special" words and write them down. Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words. They will create a sentence.
3: Finally, head back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had AND tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected.
My special words are "of success"
All winners will be randomly drawn. Winners will be posted over on the Swirlydoos blog on the 17th. Have a great time!!!! The block party continues over at Lisa Valentine's blog (addy for link: http://www.randomonpurposelife.blogspot.com/)
Designers Tip: you need to use a fairly strong adhesive to prevent the ring from coming apart. I used Bostik Clear.